How to be a good parent: A 5 a day plan to help

Parents should adopt a "five-a-day" approach, with daily activities to help children reach their full potential, a report has said. A BBC news article last week discussed that parents need help to bring up their children in the best possible way. I believe that many people have lost their way with parenting; we have many families where there are 2 or 3 generations of poor parenting now which is bound to have repercussions. I see the knock on effect of this almost everyday where children are not being stimulated sufficiently so their spoken language skills are detrimentally affected. Obviously the Hello campaign is working to address this issue but what about the other aspects? How much screen time, how to say no, how to build their self esteem. Everyone has a right to be secure, loved and valued; would these 5- a day rules help?

You can read the full story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14403919  These steps include reading to their child, praising them and talking to them with the television switched off. 

The think tank CentreForum says the government should start a national campaign promoting better parenting with a model similar to the five-a-day scheme which encourages people to eat fruit and vegetables, to give parents manageable steps.

Continue reading the main story

Five steps to help your child

• Read to your child for 15 minutes
• Play with your child on the floor for 10 minutes
• Talk with your child for 20 minutes with the television off
• Adopt positive attitudes towards your child and praise them frequently
• Give your child a nutritious diet to aid development

The report's author, Chris Paterson, said the most important factor influencing a child's intellectual and social development was the quality of parenting and care they received.

He said evidence suggested children from poorer backgrounds were much less likely to experience a "rich home learning environment" than those growing up in wealthier households.

Studies showed that more affluent parents spent more time reading to their children and talking to them and were more likely to praise them than tell them off, he said.

He said mothers and fathers from all backgrounds could make a difference to their children's life chances by following some simple rules.

"Parents from all social and educational backgrounds can and do provide home environments that are highly conducive to child development," the report said.

Mr Paterson told the BBC it should not be assumed that everyone knew how to be a good parent.

I believe the recent rioting reflects poor parenting; they didn't respect anyone else's property, felt it was OK to steal, throw missiles at police and set fire to cars and shops. They just thought of themselves and wanted to get rich quick. The values that would have prevented this are all things we need to teach our children. Plus, where did the parents think they were? 

I'd welcome your comments 

Talk Gym: Helping young people aged 14-19

BT and The Communication Trust, have launched a new Facebook application, called Talk Gym, to help young people aged 14-19 develop their communication skills.  The free resource can help build verbal communication skills, so young people can express themselves more effectively. Whether it be face-to-face or via technology such as social media, Talk Gym can help young people prepare for life after school. The application has been developed as part of BT’s sponsorship of the Hello campaign, the 2011 national year of communication. The campaign, run by The Communication Trust in partnership with Jean Gross, the Government’s Communication Champion, aims to make children and young people’s communication skills a priority in homes and schools across the UK. The Hello campaign is backed by the Department for Education and Department of Health. Jean Gross, the Government’s Communication Champion for children, said “47% of employers in England have reported difficulty in finding recruits with an appropriate level of oral communication skills. Young people often don’t realise how essential their communication skills are until they enter the job market.  “This is too late; we need to be reaching young people much earlier. I applaud initiatives like Talk Gym, which are an excellent solution to this growing concern. The use of innovative routes like Facebook to reach young people on their own territory is a real ‘first’. I recommend that teachers embrace this new resource and use it to help ensure young develop the
communication skills needed for work and life.”  Chris Pike, a Talk Gym trialist aged 17, said, "People my age are constantly being told that we need good communication skills to be successful in life. I think that Talk Gym is a fantastic way for young people to learn more about their communication. It's accessible to
everyone, being available online and on Facebook; and it helps young people to overcome issues they may face with communication. It also encourages them to consider how difficult it must be for those with communication difficulties.  “I'm delighted that my friends and peers will be able to use this tool in order to
understand everyone a little better, no matter how well they can communicate."

The Talk Gym app gets users to check their ‘talk fitness’ by asking six questions about themselves and then asking the same questions to a friend or relative via Facebook. The answers appear anonymously in a graph and the app uses the responses to assess the individual’s communication ability. The feedback highlights why communication skills are so important and gives tips on being clear, listening, talking in groups and being interviewed. There are also videos presented by young people on www.bt.com/talkgym giving peer-to-peer advice on becoming better communicators. Julie Hindley, BT Learning & Skills Manager, said, "Young people are constantly told that they need good communication skills to succeed in school, in the workplace and in life in general. We believe Talk Gym can play a part in prompting a conversation to raise awareness of good communication by young people. Technology is progressively changing the way we communicate and we have created the Facebook application so that young people can easily engage via a social network that they are familiar with."

As with every product in BT’s suite of learning and skills resources, Talk Gym was developed in close consultation with teachers and young people. A series of educational
resources are available to download for free in order to help teachers make the best use of the Talk Gym Facebook app in the classroom which include guidance for teachers using social media as a learning tool. Talk Gym has been designed to support Speaking and Listening in the National Curriculum for England and Wales, the Cross-Curricular skills in the National Curriculum for Northern Ireland curriculum and several strands in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence.

To find out more Talk Gym visit www.bt.com/talkgym to get your fitness tested now.

Better Communication - Shaping speech, language and communication services in the light of outcomes from the Bercow Review

To mark the national year of communication, the Communication Champion and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) are hosting three autumn conferences for NHS and local authority commissioners, together with their local speech and language therapy service provider or providers.

These conferences aim to draw together learning from the three-year period of action following the Bercow Review, which set out to improve the situation for children and families - the  pathfinder programme to develop new speech, language and communication needs-specific commissioning tools; a major research programme to enhance the evidence base and inform delivery of better outcomes for children; a workforce development strand; and the national year of communication itself. The conferences will provide commissioners and service managers with the information they need to ensure high-quality, cost-effective services for the future.

The conferences will take place on:

• Tuesday 20th September 2011 at Aspire, 2 Infirmary Street, Leeds, LS1 2JP

• Tuesday 11th October 2011 at the Royal National Hotel, Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0DG

• Thursday 24th November 2011 at the University of Warwick, Rootes Social Building, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7A

For more information and to book a place, please contact:digna.bankovska@rcslt.org

Are you looking for a way to earn money, make a difference AND have fun?

There can't be many ways of combining all three plus achieving a work-life balance. Smart Talkers Pre-School Groups are looking for franchisees to run their own business in their own area. We have a training course in starting in September which can be done mostly on-line as we know you are probably busy with children and partners etc.

We run groups which focus on spoken language skills to help children achieve their potential. We do Small Talkers to help prepare for school, Teeny Talkers for 2- 3 year olds, Baby Talk for parents of babies (or ante-natal classes) plus we do signing for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. We also show you how to do other courses such as Stories with Jack and to deliver other related programmes. There is a variety which means you are never bored!

We aren't looking for qualifications (although speech and language therapists might be interested) as we offer full training on communication development, ways to encourage, how to manage groups etc as well as business training. We also support the business development so it's an easier way of starting and running your own  business. We know that it's a scary thought and that could put you off but I have had years of running businesses; experience which will help you.

Have a look at the video or listen to the podcast to see if you might be interested, As a bonus we're offering a discount on the franchise fee to celebrate 2011, the National year of Communication.





See the web site http://www.smarttalkers.org.uk/business_opportunity.php There is a video and another podcast

Do you want to do what's best for your child?

Did you hear the Communication Tsar Jean Gross talking about children' s low levels of speech, language and communication on Radio 4 today? This area is the most important area of a child's development and underpins most of the others.  We have children who have a specific difficulty through no-one's fault (1.2 million) but many, many more who have deprived language so they may not even know their own name or that they even have a name by the time they come to nursery. Addressing this issue is 'the Holy Grail of breaking the problems today,' asserts Neil Wilson, Head Teacher from Manchester.This is so true and one of the reasons why I started the Smart Talkers pre-School Communication Groups www.smarttalkers.org.uk.

All parents want what's best for their children but the problem is, they don't know enough about the development of communication and their essential role in that process. We need desperately to address this, which is exactly what the Hello Campaign is attempting to do. Unfortunately it's a massive task and one which needs to be regular, consistent and ongoing. Smart Talkers have several strategies in our support of this aim:

•  Baby Talk to discuss the important relevant issues with parents or parents-to-be e.g. how old should the baby be before we need to talk to them?, TV, forwards facing pushchairs, nursery ryhmes etc. The Smart Talkers representative leads the discussion with all the up to date information, she doesn't tell them what to think but by the end they have all the ideas to make their own minds up
• Teeny Talkers which are groups for 2 - 3 year olds
• Small Talkers which are groups to help prepare 3-4 year olds for school
• Other signing groups, story-times, demonstration training all designed to work on speech, language and communication

While we do offer more formal training to parents, carers and staff, I feel that the groups of parents who really need this information are not likely to sit down to learn in these traditional ways. I find that informal, low-key demonstration is much more valuable. We're not telling them what to do, as again that can be detrimental, we're showing  and suggesting. In any event, they are not threatened by a woman sitting on the floor singing with her hand in a puppet, so they are more relaxed and open to suggestion! The first session I did at a Children's Centre was a great example: the parents had been told to come along by their social workers. They knew that it was to be a  speech therapist running the groups and that their children all had delayed language. They came along full of resentment; the hostility almost palpable!! At the end of the first session, the folded arms had relaxed a little and they agreed somewhat reluctantly to attend the following week of their own accord. By week 3, I still had the originals apart from one family and some parents who were trying the activities, by week 6 they were all doing the activities and singing the songs at home!! 

In case you missed it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9550000/9550285.stm www.smarttalkers.org.uk

End of an era: Small Talkers on their way!

It was with some sadness but a real feeling of satisfaction, that we said goodbye to our Small Talkers from the Smart Talkers Pre-School Communication groups. These are the children who have been attending our classes and are now on their way to school. It's been fantastic to work with these children and we have had some real successes. I thought I might share a small selection of some of the children's stories with you:

P

P came from another nursery which he had been asked to leave because of his poor behaviour. He came to the group with very poor attention and listening skills. He had no idea of turn-taking and talked over both staff and children. Consequently his receptive language was poor as he could not listen. He had developed diversion tactics to hide this. Now he is able to sit and attend in the group for the entire session. He knows exactly when it is his turn and is able to carry out all the activities. He can carry out tasks with 3 information carrying words so still has a little way to go (need 4 in correct sequence for school) but is doing very well. He enjoys the praise that comes with success and seeks this now rather than the attention associated with his poor behaviour. He needs work on verbal reasoning as he is very literal and narrative.

E

E had very little self confidence so that her performance at nursery was affected. Her understanding and expressive skills were poor because of this. We have worked on her confidence and have built this up; she can now put up her hand to answer most questions. We still need to make sure she has the correct set up i.e. she hates to go first and will then often clam up.

A

A had a marked processing delay which affected all his communication i.e. if you asked him a question, he would take a few seconds to take in what you had asked him before answering. He was also very easily disturbed so that he would withdraw and not give anything. It was often not apparent what was bothering him. He has made great progress so that he can answer most concrete her and now questions. He still has immature speech sounds.

W

W’s parents and older sister were babying her so that she got everything she wanted without the need to talk. We’ve looked at reasons, means and opportunities and demonstrated in the group how to simply implement these. She was just using eye-pointing as a means of communication whereas now she is talking in sentences now and is very vocal!

P

P had no expressive language. He used a system of grunts to get what he wanted. At first it looked as if it was just a lack of parental technique bur as he has made progress it is becoming apparent that there is probably more to the problem. If we hadn’t had the group this would not have been evident for much longer. We were able to alert the multi-disciplinary team. He has now seen the paediatrician and will have some assessment sessions.

We've had some great feedback from the parents and carers.... and we've had great fun!

Hello to the national year of communication:Podcast

Listen to an interview with the Government's Communication Tsar Jean Gross:
http://www.radioinschools.co.uk/data/Assets/RIS/Player/316766d996162291f2c0781b6b2861138f675ca8.mp3

Read more about the campaign at www.hello.org.uk